CLOCK ON SAIGON CATHEDRAL CHIMING BIGHT O'CLOCK, PEOPLE STANDING STILL DURING ONE MINUTE SILENCE, MAN LISTENING TO EIGHT O'CLOCK NEWS ON RADIO, PEOPLE MOVING AGAIN AFTER CLOCK STOPS CHINING, STREET SCENES, PEOPLE PRAYING FOR PEACE TO LAST AND AMERICAN SOLDIERS WALKING IN SAIGON STREETS.




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Background: Peace officially came to Vietnam at 8 a.m. local time (2400 GMT) on Sunday but 25 minutes later fighting was still reported raging near Tay Ninh City, close to the Cambodian border.

Bells pealed solemnly from churches and pagodas in Saigon and soldiers stood to attention and saluted. Others celebrated the occasion with an early-morning toast. Throughout the country South Vietnamese observed a few moments silence to pray for peace and remember the millions killed in the war.

In a national radio and television address President Nguyen Van Thieu expressed the fears of many when he said that he did not know whether the peace would last or would be broken by he communists. He added: "But at least it is on end to destruction and death for our people.

As the peace bells rang out, hardly anyone smiled or cheered. It was a Sunday like any other Sunday. The Cathedral was holding the usual mass. Traffic was stopped by police for a memorial to the dead but barely 30 seconds it rolled, 30 seconds on its hectic way.

In Saigon's Central ??? President Thieu's ceasefire broadcast ??? around among the tiny fabric shops and soup stalls.

In the city's main commercial street, where guards had been strengthened against any possible attacks, a young military policemen said he had, as he put it, "big feelings of happiness and awakening".